The invention relates to a clamp fitting for a pipe, in particular, a clamp fitting for a plastic pipe or a plastic-metal composite pipe.
Such clamp fittings are sufficiently familiar from the prior art, and have a fitting body that is furnished with a support sleeve onto which the end of a pipe to be connected can be pushed. On the outside, around the connection end of the pipe that is pushed onto the support sleeve, there is a sleeve that is radially compressed with the aid of a pressing tool and thus presses the connection end of the pipe into the support sleeve, whereby the required tightness on the one hand, and a strain relief on the other, are created.
This press-fitting technique has proven itself in practice and is used particularly for the connection of plastic pipes or plastic-metal composite pipes.
To avoid using pressing tools, it was already proposed in the past that a clamping or locking sleeve be used in place of a crimping sleeve. This is described in DE-C-3911406. For pressing the connection end of the pipe against the support sleeve in this known clamp fitting, a slotted, expanded clamping sleeve made of metal is used, which presses the connection end of the pipe against the support sleeve with sufficient pressing force because of its elastic recovery capability as a result of the expanding. In the installation of the known clamping sleeve, it is necessary to use a spreading tool with which the clamping sleeve is held in the expanded position when it is pushed onto the connection end of the pipe that is pushed onto the support sleeve.
In addition, a fixing element for fixing flexible protective tubes that has a resilient clamping sleeve producing a bias force by radial pressure for fixing a support tube is known from EP-A-0 849 519. The clamping sleeve can be expanded by means of a tool.